Hillsborough County
Parks Tree Management
Plan
Risk Mitigation and Strategic Planting
UF/IFAS Extension
ANDREW K. KOESER, GAIL HANSEN, HUNTER THORN, DEBORAH R. HILBERT, CODY ARTZNER,
AND MALLORY LAFERRIER
GULF COAST RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HORTICULTURE, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
January 31, 2021
Contents
1
Introduction and Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1
Executive Summary
5
1.2
Introduction
6
1.3
How many parks were inventoried?
6
1.4
How many trees were risk assessed?
6
1.5
Who assessed the trees?
6
1.6
How do we relocate trees?
6
1.7
What risk assessment method was used?
7
1.8
What key definitions from the ISA Tree Risk Assessment BMP are needed to
understand this report?
7
1.9
Who created the planting plans?
8
1.10 How were planting spaces identified?
9
1.11 How were species selected?
9
1.12 How do we use the information gathered for guiding future management of
the trees in Hillsborough County’s parks?
9
2
Risk Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1
What tree species are found in Hillsborough County Parks?
13
2.2
What are the diameter distributions of the predominant tree species?
15
2.3
What is overall risk associated with Hillsborough County park trees?
18
4
2.4
What were the common defects observed during the risk assessments? 18
2.5
What are the projected mitigation costs?
19
2.6
How can I prioritize mitigation efforts?
25
2.7
Other threats - What pests or diseases have the potential to impact the trees
which dominate Hillsborough County Parks?
27
3
Strategic Planting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1
How were the species and planting locations selected?
31
3.2
What are the projected tree costs?
35
3.3
How were the projected costs calculated?
35
4
Canopy Analysis and Grand Oaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.1
What is the canopy Coverage for